Left last Thursday for a fishing trip to Cherokee lake in Tennessee. 6 of us left after work hoping to catch the night bite for hybrid stripers.

4 nights of fishing. From dusk till dawn. We caught 3 fish the entire trip. Usually this trip nets catching over your limit every night of fishing(releasing those over your limit of course)

Friday night it rained like a monsoon. We toughed it out hoping for that elusive fish. I am going to write a good review for cabelas drylok plus clothes. Jacket and bids, not a drop of water on my clothes underneath.

However the lack of fish did not ruin the trip. It was a great time with friends and I think we all had a great trip.

A few pictures. Sadly none of any fish. The lake was beautiful! The cabins we stayed in were very nice. They would l sleep 3 people for 85 a night. They are pictured below, small little 2 room cabins. Kitchen and beds were all in one room, bathroom in another.

We have hybrids in Lake Montauk. Hard driving fighters. And tasty. We generally drift live killies off a bottom drail. What kind of set ups were you using?

We were using Long A bombers and Red Fin jointed top water lures.

The idea is, that right now the shad are spawning. You can sit in the boat along the shore in a cove, and the little fish pop out of the water. The Hybrids come in and feed. They explode out of the water grabbing shad.

Basically the idea that we always use is find a cove with smooth water and the shad popping the top water. The stripers usually come in for easy feeding. Slowly troll along the shore casting in and slowly retrieving. The stripers will explode on your lure. The first time it happened to me, I jumped and completely forgot what I was doing for a second. But they explode, usually hook themselves, and the fight is in. Strong fish!

This time, it had been cold the week before. Water temps were in the mid 60s. Usually they are in the low 70s this time of year. The cold front moving in, and the terrible rain, and cool water, all compounded to make for tough fishing. They just weren't feeding. Usually when you get into an area with the shad hitting the water eventually it will sound like someone dumping a box of bowling balls in the water with all the stripers feeding. This time around, it was maybe one striper hitting the top whatever every 15 to 30 minutes.